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Do something different and be ahead of the pack

“You make a difference in property by doing something different and being ahead of the others. If you go with the pack you’re fighting to get ahead and it doesn’t work. For my whole life I’ve believed if you are like a sheep and follow the crowd you get nowhere. If you go another way you might get it wrong, but if you get it right you win big time.

One of the many concepts introduced to New Zealand by the innovative Timothy Terence Manning was that of a gated community. It supposedly went against every fact about the local property market. Even the local North Shore City Council had difficulty with it.

“The council just couldn’t figure what we were trying to do. It was a new concept to them and they thought we were trying to break the laws. We said we were actually complying with the laws, but in a different way.

“They couldn’t understand the demands of the market – having a manager on site, walls, cameras at the gate and sound security. They said oh no, we’d never allow that on the North Shore.’ No residents objected; just the council.

“Some councillors have no planning or vision so it was hard trying to convince them about the scale and density of the project. We tried to tell them that what we were doing was the way of the future Tim Manning recalls.

North Shore City Council’s main objection had been said to be the scale and density of the development. Later Manning heard through the grapevine that they didn’t have all the services in place that were needed for the development and didn’t want to have to put them in.

A partner, mentor and man who knows him well, Bob Parkinson, has seen many in the industry come and go:
Tim is totally committed to his work, it’s his life. If you look at the Branson’s of this world you will find the same. They are driven and they have goals, and that’s how you achieve them. A lot of people would question the balance, but that’s what he wants.

TT Manning is creative and he has a logical mind that follows things through. What he takes on most of us couldn’t do. He is so positive he doesn’t look at the downside.